Tale
by Soulreciever
Summary: Kamui begins his story like a child's fable and yet, something inhis eye tells that it shall be anything but. AU. Slash. Chapter 111 spoilers.


Tale.

T: Inspired by recent revelations in Tsubasa and then taken away and tweaked with until I liked it! This takes place in between chapter 111 and 112 and is a 'missing scene' of sorts. If you haven't read the mentioned chapters or indeed those that follow afterwards then BEWARE THE SPOLIERS…you have been warned! There is also slash, angst and a little bit of supposition on my part!

The plot is mine but those within it are not!

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After sunset the temperature in the building had dropped considerably and their 'hosts' had built a fire in order to prevent themselves from freezing.

He'd remained close to the Princess at first, weary still of those about him, eventually, however, the companionable warmth of the fire, along with the desire to learn more of the new world, had caused him to set aside his worries and step from her side.

He was talking amiably to Kakyo, of the founding of this group, when his eyes catch Kamui's lithe frame passing through the gathering.

Excusing himself to Kakyo he'd followed the other, his steps led by the draw that he felt towards the other.

They stop, eventually, at the edge of a vast lake and, his eyes never straying from gazing at the thing, Kamui enquires,

"Why have you followed me here?"

He knows that he has made no noise and yet he is not overly surprised to learn that the other had detected him.

There is something…unique…about Kamui, after all.

"I do not know why I came…it simply seemed the right thing to do."

"You are being drawn to me because of _his_ influence upon you."

"To whom do you refer?"

"The hunter."

Kamui can now be referring to but one man in his life and, his curiosity piqued, he enquires,

"How do you know Seishiro-san?"

"He hurt someone whom I hold very dear."

"Do you refer to Subaru?"

Kamui tenses a moment and then, bending to dip one hand into the water, he enquires,

"Did you hear that name from _that man's _lips?"

"Yes."

"What else did he tell you?"

"He said that he was hunting for a set of vampire twins and yet he never said why."

"He is looking for Subaru."

"Why?"

"Closure."

He wishes to ask to have this matter clarified and yet the impertinence, as well as the threat of the other, still his tongue.

"Shall I tell you a story?" The other enquires and, after but a moment, he says, "Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a beautiful boy whose heart was as pure as driven snow." It sounds as the beginning to a child's fable and yet, something in the rhythm of the others voice, tell him that it shall be anything but, " The kindness of that pure heart was as a burden to the boy for he felt the pain of others as his own and cried their tears with them.

"One day the boy happened upon an injured stranger and, without hesitation, he took the other to his home.

"For a week he sat at the stranger's bedside while he slept, offering prayers to the gods and watching the unknown with his kindly eyes.

"At the end of the week the stranger stirred and the boy learned that he had been tending to a vampire.

"Yet this news did not frighten the boy and, for the first time in a millennia, the vampire was taken by surprise.

'Do you not fear me?'

'No, for there is a sadness in your eyes that makes you more human than many others that I have met over the years.' The vampire was surprised by this answer and, desiring to know more of this boy, he told him,

'You have saved my life and for that I owe you a dept of gratitude. Thus I wish you to call for me when you are in danger and also…also I would like to spend a little more time with you.'

'I would like that.' The boy smiled as he said those words, the expression so very beautiful and yet also so very empty.

"It was a beneficial companionship for both for the vampire taught the boy to empathise a little less and in return the boy taught the vampire of compassion.

"Then the boy met a man who was not quite a man and gave both his heart and his soul away."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The man existed as a normal human being and yet his body was empty."

"Do you mean that it was void of its soul?"

"Yes and yet despite this the boy believed he could help the man, believed that his love could save him.

"It was a belief that the man encouraged and for a while it seemed as though they might be happy together. Yet there was a secret hidden within the boy's blood, a secret that had brought the man and that put an end to the boy's happiness."

"What was the secret?"

"The boy had an amazing magical gift, one that was strong enough to grant the boy, and any who tasted his blood, immortality.

"Desperate to gain an ever lasting life the man had worked his way into the boy's heart and, once assured of the other's affection, he had allowed himself to be injured in a fatal manner.

"All this the man told the boy once he came back from death and with each word, with each casual dismissal of the boy's pain, he had shattered the other's heart a little further.

"Eventually the man walked away from the boy, let him broken upon the floor, and that was how the vampire found him an hour later; curled into a ball, his face stained with tears and his eyes void now of all emotion.

"Recalling the promise he had made to the boy the vampire brought him to the Dimensional Witch and, bowing deeply, he pleaded,

'Send him away from this place, from the memory of his heart ache.'

'In payment for this request you must give over the bond that you share with your twin…must give up the comfort of your life at this moment and wonder, aimless, with this child.'

"Though the thought of letting his twin go, of living without aim or resting place, was as a painful thing to him, the vampire agreed to the terms."

"Why?"

"Because he loved the boy and wished only to see him smile again."

He knows that there is a little more to this tale and, despite the risk such a thing holds, he enquires,

"You said that Seishiro-san wished for 'closure', what did you mean by that?"

"Subaru's blood has given _that man_ the one thing he has always been without and, imbued now with a soul, he wishes to see Subaru again and beg his apology… wishes to start afresh."

"Such a thing would bring a smile to Subaru's face, would it not?"

"Perhaps."

"Then why are you still running?"

"Because I wish Subaru to only ever smile for me." There is a moment of silence and then Kamui enquires, "Do you keep silent because you understand my selfishness?"

"Yes."

Kamui sets his other hand into the water then and, turning at last to face him, he enquires,

"Do you see him?"

He is about to respond to the negative when his eyes catch a ghostly shape just a little beneath Kamui's outstretched hands.

"Is he being kept alive by his magic?" He enquires, his eyes never leaving the all but doll like perfection of the figure beneath the lake.

"Yes."

"Why is he down there?"

"I believe that there is something else within the water, something that Subaru has deemed important enough to protect, despite the fact that doing as such may allow the Hunter to find us at last."

"If I were to take that object then there would be no more reason for him to stay here…"

Lifting his hands free of the water Kamui turns completely to him and, a cold anger clear in his eyes, he says,

"To take that thing from him by force would be as stealing away the last of his soul. Thus I can not let you near him."

He feels his right eye throb and suddenly he is closer to the vampire than he was before, his body tensed down into a fighting stance.

"It seems you too are more than you seem." Kamui remarks as he takes a firm hold of his right arm, "I should simply kill you now and yet…

"Yet you are the first since Subaru who has understood me…who has seen me as more than beast.

"Thus for today I will allow you to walk away." There is a sharp crack as the other breaks his arm and, as the pain surges through his body, he can hear the other's calm voice informing him, "Listen to my voice and let your mind wonder…" before he passes, at last, into unconsciousness.

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T: Okay first big loose end is why Shaoran does not recall this meeting, basically Kamui has used his hypnotic aura to pull Shaoran into a deep sleep and from there he's blanked away the other's memory of this encounter. Kamui's 'surprise' at Shaoran knowing Sei-chan is all an act in order to maintain the pretext that he and Shaoran have not talked to one another properly.

Second one is the matter of Kamui's twin…in this tale it's Fuuma and the reason why he fights Kamui is because he can no longer recall that he is his twin. Despite not knowing his twin Fuuma feels his absence and thus he has chosen to travel through worlds in order to make him 'whole' again.

Think that's all the major ones…if you spot something that niggles let me know and I'll clear it up for you!


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